Check Your Heart First

God teaches us an important lesson through Gideon: focus on your heart before you focus on others’ hearts.

In Judges 6, Gideon knew that God was raising him up to save Israel from the oppression of Midian. The very night that Gideon had a revival moment with God, building the altar called the Lord is Peace, God gave him his first instruction. It is not a war plan; it’s a worship plan.

Priorities! You would think that God would unveil some great military plan to stop the Midianites,

sort of like he did to Deborah and Barak. But God takes a different course of action here and we must catch this lesson. Israel wanted peace. They experience oppression for seven years under the hand of Midian and cried out to the Lord for help. God raised up Gideon to save them, but they needed to look into their own camp for peace and freedom before thinking about Midian. Israel was filled with idolatry and God told Gideon to tear down to the altars to Baal and Asherah in his own town before he gave him any instruction about the Midianites. God was reorienting their heart to Him–a worship plan!

You must get your priorities right in order to be at peace with the Lord. You can cry out to him when you’re in difficult moments (like Israel), but if you’re still trying to find satisfaction and peace in idols, it’s going to be very difficult to see the Lord for who He is and who He needs to be in your life.

Check your own heart before you try to step out in faith to accomplish what the Lord has called you to.

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My mom’s name is Deborah, and I’m thankful for her. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

I am referring to the relationship between Deborah and Barak in the book of Judges (chapters 4 and 5). Deborah was a prophetess, meaning she spoke God’s word to His people. She was a wise woman, settling disputes under a palm tree. Barak was a military leader who faced the ruthless and technologically-superior Canaanites in order to deliver the Israelites from their oppression. This victory was an act of God’s grace for His people (Israel), and Deborah and Barak were major players.

In Judges 4:6-7, Deborah summoned Barak and said, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you: ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites and Zebulunites? Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’”

When I was reading that recently, I noticed something–God had already told Barak what he was to do and had already promised victory. Deborah was admonishing Barak to be faithful to what God had already said.

My point: be thankful for the “Deborahs” in your life who admonish you to be obedient to Scripture.

God has spoken and we have that record in the 66 books the Bible. It can be painful to hear someone say, “Didn’t God say…,” pointing out sin in our lives, but we need to be humble as we’re admonished toward obedience to God’s Word.

The Bible caused William Tyndale to be strangled and burned to death–do not take it lightly!

In 1526, Tyndale translated and published the first-ever mechanically-printed New Testament in the English language. The King James Version came out in 1611, and it is remarkable to think that almost 100 years before, producing the Bible in English was considered heresy that would lead to death. Tyndale’s famous last words at his execution came true: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” Read More

After officiating a funeral service, I usually ride in the hearse with the funeral director to the cemetery.

I enjoy those rides because I have great discussions with funeral directors. It is especially interesting to talk with them about their beliefs in life after death because they see death all the time and are naturally confronted with this topic. But in all of the conversations (sometimes about some interesting situations and facts!), none of the funeral directors have told me they have seen a dead body raised to life.

Maybe you have not seen a physical resurrection (I haven’t), but have you ever thought about the joy that comes in seeing spiritual resurrection? We should be proclaiming the gospel and seeing this all the time–dead souls made alive again!

Ephesians 2:1-2 says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

Graciously, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5). Once we are made alive, we are given the task of proclaiming the message of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).

I saw a great reminder of the joy and task of participating in spiritual resurrection when I read the words from a hymn called “Soldiers of Christ, In Truth Arrayed.” Basil Manley wrote this hymn for the first graduation ceremony of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary circa 1860.

The first two verses:

Soldiers of Christ, in truth arrayed,
A world in ruins needs your aid:
A world by sin destroyed and dead;
A world for which the Savior bled.

His Gospel to the lost proclaim,Good news for all in Jesus’ Name;Let light upon the darkness break
That sinners from their death may wake.

I’m thankful that my soul is alive in Christ and I’m thankful that I can participate in God’s mission of seeing souls come alive!